Lumière and Company (1995) - full transcript
40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes. The results run the gamut from Zhang Yimou's convention-thwarting joke to David Lynch's bizarre miniature epic.
It's cold in Romania.
I can't believe it!
Is this the box?
It's unbelievable.
This is a relic.
I feeI like crossing myself.
It's so beautifuI.
It's only just a box.
Not bad.
WonderfuI.
Fine.
Impossible.
It's too much in the corner.
It's rustic, cleaned with your fingers.
Arrival of a train
in La Ciotat (France).
When I was offered
to take part in this little saga,
I fancied the idea.
But most of all,
this particular idea suited me.
For me it meant this:
recording the difference.
Ready.
Let's put the toys away, then?
THE GAME
100 years after the Lumi?re brothers
40 directors shoot with
the Cinematograph
Why did you agree
to use the Lumi?re camera?
Well, I think when a director hears
the word "limitation,"
he's thrilled
because it's a challenge.
I don't know. Out of curiosity.
It's for the game and
as some colleagues wanted to play...
There was something both happy
and melancholic about it.
It didn't take me long
to decide to do it,
but again, not for serious reasons.
Out of challenge.
I like the city of Lyon,
the people who have invented
the basis of my work,
I like the food in Lyon
and I have a lot of friends there.
First, because I'm a gratefuI person
above all to the Lumi?re brothers.
I had never seen it operating
and I wanted to operate it,
if a film director is able to...
or someone pretending he's one.
For fame!
Why do you film?
This is a very immodest question.
Not the question, the answer.
I film because... I want to be loved.
Why do you film, Mr. Rivette?
For me, the answer can be
but a long questioning silence.
So...
An Adventure of Ninon
It's too short.
Usually we have to cut,
but here it needs to be longer.
Let's call Martine to tell her.
It's your shortest film.
Precisely, it's too short.
I can't make a long enough film.
Rule#1:
a 52 seconds sequence shot
Rule#2:
no synchronous sound
Rule#3:
three takes only
Here, with the soldiers,
tell in your report that
in Burkina Faso, with the soldiers,
it took 4 takes.
I'm not kidding.
It's recorded!
No problem.
There are a lot of stops.
Extract from the TV news,
March 19, 1995,
birthday of the first shot of
March 19, 1895.
Is cinema mortaI?
Of course, like anything.
Unfortunately.
As long as imagination
and memory exist,
people will try and remember,
and print this memory somewhere.
Stories won't disappear.
The need for listening
and watching stories won't disappear.
I have no speciaI mystic about it.
I believe cinema is a means of
expression, as others before.
It's no more nor less mortaI
than them.
Maybe cinema is old,
or getting old?
I don't care. Sometimes, old people
are more beautifuI than young ones.
5 years before the year 2000,
hundreds of Spanish boys
are imprisoned
for refusing military service.
A day in the life of a conscientious
objector, the writer Felix Romero.
Every morning, he comes out of prison
and goes back in the evening.
I wanted this film as a testimony.
I like shooting this way,
with such a simple
and beautifuI camera.
The Brothers Lumi?re's camera.
For me, it's a privilege.
"Camering" Forbidden
In Algeria,
we've invented a new verb:
"to camer. "
Even though, in this country,
we no longer enjoy being "camered. "
There, it's over.
Why do you film?
I film because I like subversion.
I film, or I go on filming,
to soften the flight of time.
Splitting sounds and music
which link the shots, 2 or 5 seconds,
is fabulous!
That is the question: to tell a story
with the means of cinema.
I don't think about it,
I keep it to myself.
Can I see the Lumi?re camera, Dad?
Dad, let me see their camera!
Are you shooting?
Hey, Dad! The crank's here.
Wim Wenders, why do you film?
Because there's nothing else.
- Let's forget about this traveling.
- Oh, no!
But look, it's not possible.
Can we already view something?
He's not Deneuve,
you can't ask him to be precise.
Let's focus on this woman.
- Is he so short?
- He's not tall.
A last question, Mr. President:
which image of cinema
spontaneously comes to your mind?
I have forgotten its title,
it was a Hungarian film,
people were dancing...
I won't ever forget this picture.
The same with Ariane Mnouchkine's
film about Moli?re.
At the end,
when they carry his body...
it is a sequence which,
for me,
is at the summit of film art.
I was deeply moved.
Why did you agree
to shoot with the Lumi?re camera?
To see!
Why do you film?
To live!
Do you think cinema is mortaI?
I don't think so, it's like memory.
Why did you agree
to shoot with the Lumi?re camera?
Which sort of wood is it?
It's walnut wood.
I put it there, for me!
This way I can frame.
Fine.
Half a step forward.
Okay, it's fine.
Is there someone behind?
You two, up! Quickly!
8 out of 8/36
Why do you film?
I like seeing things
or imagining things,
and putting them in a frame.
It's the framing
of what I have in mind
which I enjoy most in filming.
It gives me an extraordinary pleasure,
almost sensuaI.
Because...
just because.
Filmmaking is a pleasure for me,
but I don't take it very seriously.
It's a playground for me,
as when I was a child.
I don't know
and I don't want to know.
Maybe it's just for the pleasure
I get from it.
It nearly reaches exultation
when I am with the audience
watching my films.
I think it's some sort of obsession,
obsession is when
you've lost all rationality,
when you can't express it
so you go on filming
to try and know why.
So, I can't give any coherent answer.
Never ask a centipede
why it walks
or it'll stumble.
Are you ready?
Go!
Look at me!
Look!
Look at me, Sven!
Why do you film?
I think I film to survive.
It's the most efficient way
to survive.
I know no other way to survive
without filming.
You've got to work for the backlight.
Be carefuI, Lolo is married.
She's got stiff principles!
No, wait! Get nearer to there...
because the background...
Funny, all upside down.
Here you are. It's fine.
Off we go! Action!
More passion, more...
That's it! Yes!
Traveling slightly faster.
Yes, we are passionate!
It's me. Are you there?
Not back yet?
Well...
Listen...
I'm here, I won't move.
Good-bye.
Call me back.
Well... bye, then.
Is cinema mortaI?
Impossible.
To start with,
I don't believe in death
and even less for cinema!
Impossible!
Eternity gives me the blues.
Cinema is mortaI,
it's all the best, for we have
to enjoy now what's mortaI.
When there's birth,
there's death also.
Cinema might die one day.
Is it mortaI?
You mean immortaI!
I don't think cinema is mortaI.
I believe it has a large future.
It's a show, it's fantastic...
Why do you film?
I film to move and entertain people.
You, there... excellent.
I want you to arrive first, here.
You arrive immediately.
Come!
You, where were you? There too?
You come from there.
What about you?
Go!
It's impossible, impossible.
Yes, it's too much in the corner.
Now people tend to believe
that cinema can describe
all the events in the world,
even the comic universe,
as in science fiction.
On the contrary, I believe that
cinema can't shoot any image.
This is what
I'll try to show you.
Can cinema describe
the image of that instant
50 years ago?
It is totally impossible.
If we had been shooting then,
me and the camera,
we would have been destroyed
by the atomic bomb.
We mustn't be presumptuous.
Cinema can't describe everything.
Bearing in mind this reality,
we have to think about the part
cinema could play from now on.
I didn't tell you to go,
get back.
Too much talking!
Let's start again.
You're tiring the white man!
- Go on...
- You told me to stop...
Because he'll lose you,
go on, no problem.
I told you to stop, I tell you
to go on. Where's the problem?
You like arguing?
Why are you like that?
- Because we're stupid!
- You are stupid!
Can't you hear me?
He's in the water!
So I'm the stupid one!
The following day
We need
life!
Be carefuI now.
Kids! We're shooting for good.
Act seriously.
Stop! Cinema is a sin.
All this is cinema.
Stay still!
Open a bit more on them.
Towards me, like that.
Censorship already.
Cinema is a sin!
The Cinematograph is also a projector
Tribute to Louis Cochet,
light craftsman since 1931.
BeautifuI! Hurrah!
Is cinema mortaI?
Unfortunately...
three times.
What's the fourth question?
Is cinema mortaI?
I think it is and it's a good thing.
I'll see, I don't think so.
More to the left.
We must avoid the pillar on the right.
It's the opposite then,
I was wrong.
Do you want the center
or don't you?
Wait, I'll tell you.
Why did you agree to shoot with
the Lumi?re camera?
The Lumi?re camera is a relic.
Something like the Holy Shroud.
Some have different religions,
I have the religion of cinema.
That's why I wanted to shoot
with this camera.
Cut!
Perfect!
Nothing to do
except watching unpacking.
Directors don't do anything,
they watch the unpacking.
I can't see a thing.
Okay, I go!
It's 1.33 isn't it?
1.31? Better still.
Ready? Go!
Why did you agree to shoot
with the Lumi?re camera?
First, out of pleasure,
as always when you agree.
My pleasure? When I have the
opportunity of filming a part of India,
I'm not going to think twice!
It doesn't work, we can see
only the earth.
There's a problem.
The abyss isn't really here.
That's not the right place.
We have to move again.
This way.
One more minute!
Wait just a minute!
Are you ready?
Tell me, I want to hear it.
When you know
there's only a minute,
or even 50 seconds,
time becomes golden, precious.
Is cinema mortaI?
I believe I am mortaI.
I love shooting
because I don't want to die.
Untouchable, time is a concept.
There's the fly.
Time and the fly are two...
It is complicated.
I can't see.
We'll do differently.
It'll work immediately.
You stand up...
You look...
You go into the water...
you stop...
Look on your right, left...
Walk towards the camera.
Ready, Nickos?
Ulysses: "I am lost!
In which foreign country
have I landed?"
Homer, The Odyssey.
Subtitling: TITRA-FILM Paris
two of my strongest obsessions.
I can't believe it!
Is this the box?
It's unbelievable.
This is a relic.
I feeI like crossing myself.
It's so beautifuI.
It's only just a box.
Not bad.
WonderfuI.
Fine.
Impossible.
It's too much in the corner.
It's rustic, cleaned with your fingers.
Arrival of a train
in La Ciotat (France).
When I was offered
to take part in this little saga,
I fancied the idea.
But most of all,
this particular idea suited me.
For me it meant this:
recording the difference.
Ready.
Let's put the toys away, then?
THE GAME
100 years after the Lumi?re brothers
40 directors shoot with
the Cinematograph
Why did you agree
to use the Lumi?re camera?
Well, I think when a director hears
the word "limitation,"
he's thrilled
because it's a challenge.
I don't know. Out of curiosity.
It's for the game and
as some colleagues wanted to play...
There was something both happy
and melancholic about it.
It didn't take me long
to decide to do it,
but again, not for serious reasons.
Out of challenge.
I like the city of Lyon,
the people who have invented
the basis of my work,
I like the food in Lyon
and I have a lot of friends there.
First, because I'm a gratefuI person
above all to the Lumi?re brothers.
I had never seen it operating
and I wanted to operate it,
if a film director is able to...
or someone pretending he's one.
For fame!
Why do you film?
This is a very immodest question.
Not the question, the answer.
I film because... I want to be loved.
Why do you film, Mr. Rivette?
For me, the answer can be
but a long questioning silence.
So...
An Adventure of Ninon
It's too short.
Usually we have to cut,
but here it needs to be longer.
Let's call Martine to tell her.
It's your shortest film.
Precisely, it's too short.
I can't make a long enough film.
Rule#1:
a 52 seconds sequence shot
Rule#2:
no synchronous sound
Rule#3:
three takes only
Here, with the soldiers,
tell in your report that
in Burkina Faso, with the soldiers,
it took 4 takes.
I'm not kidding.
It's recorded!
No problem.
There are a lot of stops.
Extract from the TV news,
March 19, 1995,
birthday of the first shot of
March 19, 1895.
Is cinema mortaI?
Of course, like anything.
Unfortunately.
As long as imagination
and memory exist,
people will try and remember,
and print this memory somewhere.
Stories won't disappear.
The need for listening
and watching stories won't disappear.
I have no speciaI mystic about it.
I believe cinema is a means of
expression, as others before.
It's no more nor less mortaI
than them.
Maybe cinema is old,
or getting old?
I don't care. Sometimes, old people
are more beautifuI than young ones.
5 years before the year 2000,
hundreds of Spanish boys
are imprisoned
for refusing military service.
A day in the life of a conscientious
objector, the writer Felix Romero.
Every morning, he comes out of prison
and goes back in the evening.
I wanted this film as a testimony.
I like shooting this way,
with such a simple
and beautifuI camera.
The Brothers Lumi?re's camera.
For me, it's a privilege.
"Camering" Forbidden
In Algeria,
we've invented a new verb:
"to camer. "
Even though, in this country,
we no longer enjoy being "camered. "
There, it's over.
Why do you film?
I film because I like subversion.
I film, or I go on filming,
to soften the flight of time.
Splitting sounds and music
which link the shots, 2 or 5 seconds,
is fabulous!
That is the question: to tell a story
with the means of cinema.
I don't think about it,
I keep it to myself.
Can I see the Lumi?re camera, Dad?
Dad, let me see their camera!
Are you shooting?
Hey, Dad! The crank's here.
Wim Wenders, why do you film?
Because there's nothing else.
- Let's forget about this traveling.
- Oh, no!
But look, it's not possible.
Can we already view something?
He's not Deneuve,
you can't ask him to be precise.
Let's focus on this woman.
- Is he so short?
- He's not tall.
A last question, Mr. President:
which image of cinema
spontaneously comes to your mind?
I have forgotten its title,
it was a Hungarian film,
people were dancing...
I won't ever forget this picture.
The same with Ariane Mnouchkine's
film about Moli?re.
At the end,
when they carry his body...
it is a sequence which,
for me,
is at the summit of film art.
I was deeply moved.
Why did you agree
to shoot with the Lumi?re camera?
To see!
Why do you film?
To live!
Do you think cinema is mortaI?
I don't think so, it's like memory.
Why did you agree
to shoot with the Lumi?re camera?
Which sort of wood is it?
It's walnut wood.
I put it there, for me!
This way I can frame.
Fine.
Half a step forward.
Okay, it's fine.
Is there someone behind?
You two, up! Quickly!
8 out of 8/36
Why do you film?
I like seeing things
or imagining things,
and putting them in a frame.
It's the framing
of what I have in mind
which I enjoy most in filming.
It gives me an extraordinary pleasure,
almost sensuaI.
Because...
just because.
Filmmaking is a pleasure for me,
but I don't take it very seriously.
It's a playground for me,
as when I was a child.
I don't know
and I don't want to know.
Maybe it's just for the pleasure
I get from it.
It nearly reaches exultation
when I am with the audience
watching my films.
I think it's some sort of obsession,
obsession is when
you've lost all rationality,
when you can't express it
so you go on filming
to try and know why.
So, I can't give any coherent answer.
Never ask a centipede
why it walks
or it'll stumble.
Are you ready?
Go!
Look at me!
Look!
Look at me, Sven!
Why do you film?
I think I film to survive.
It's the most efficient way
to survive.
I know no other way to survive
without filming.
You've got to work for the backlight.
Be carefuI, Lolo is married.
She's got stiff principles!
No, wait! Get nearer to there...
because the background...
Funny, all upside down.
Here you are. It's fine.
Off we go! Action!
More passion, more...
That's it! Yes!
Traveling slightly faster.
Yes, we are passionate!
It's me. Are you there?
Not back yet?
Well...
Listen...
I'm here, I won't move.
Good-bye.
Call me back.
Well... bye, then.
Is cinema mortaI?
Impossible.
To start with,
I don't believe in death
and even less for cinema!
Impossible!
Eternity gives me the blues.
Cinema is mortaI,
it's all the best, for we have
to enjoy now what's mortaI.
When there's birth,
there's death also.
Cinema might die one day.
Is it mortaI?
You mean immortaI!
I don't think cinema is mortaI.
I believe it has a large future.
It's a show, it's fantastic...
Why do you film?
I film to move and entertain people.
You, there... excellent.
I want you to arrive first, here.
You arrive immediately.
Come!
You, where were you? There too?
You come from there.
What about you?
Go!
It's impossible, impossible.
Yes, it's too much in the corner.
Now people tend to believe
that cinema can describe
all the events in the world,
even the comic universe,
as in science fiction.
On the contrary, I believe that
cinema can't shoot any image.
This is what
I'll try to show you.
Can cinema describe
the image of that instant
50 years ago?
It is totally impossible.
If we had been shooting then,
me and the camera,
we would have been destroyed
by the atomic bomb.
We mustn't be presumptuous.
Cinema can't describe everything.
Bearing in mind this reality,
we have to think about the part
cinema could play from now on.
I didn't tell you to go,
get back.
Too much talking!
Let's start again.
You're tiring the white man!
- Go on...
- You told me to stop...
Because he'll lose you,
go on, no problem.
I told you to stop, I tell you
to go on. Where's the problem?
You like arguing?
Why are you like that?
- Because we're stupid!
- You are stupid!
Can't you hear me?
He's in the water!
So I'm the stupid one!
The following day
We need
life!
Be carefuI now.
Kids! We're shooting for good.
Act seriously.
Stop! Cinema is a sin.
All this is cinema.
Stay still!
Open a bit more on them.
Towards me, like that.
Censorship already.
Cinema is a sin!
The Cinematograph is also a projector
Tribute to Louis Cochet,
light craftsman since 1931.
BeautifuI! Hurrah!
Is cinema mortaI?
Unfortunately...
three times.
What's the fourth question?
Is cinema mortaI?
I think it is and it's a good thing.
I'll see, I don't think so.
More to the left.
We must avoid the pillar on the right.
It's the opposite then,
I was wrong.
Do you want the center
or don't you?
Wait, I'll tell you.
Why did you agree to shoot with
the Lumi?re camera?
The Lumi?re camera is a relic.
Something like the Holy Shroud.
Some have different religions,
I have the religion of cinema.
That's why I wanted to shoot
with this camera.
Cut!
Perfect!
Nothing to do
except watching unpacking.
Directors don't do anything,
they watch the unpacking.
I can't see a thing.
Okay, I go!
It's 1.33 isn't it?
1.31? Better still.
Ready? Go!
Why did you agree to shoot
with the Lumi?re camera?
First, out of pleasure,
as always when you agree.
My pleasure? When I have the
opportunity of filming a part of India,
I'm not going to think twice!
It doesn't work, we can see
only the earth.
There's a problem.
The abyss isn't really here.
That's not the right place.
We have to move again.
This way.
One more minute!
Wait just a minute!
Are you ready?
Tell me, I want to hear it.
When you know
there's only a minute,
or even 50 seconds,
time becomes golden, precious.
Is cinema mortaI?
I believe I am mortaI.
I love shooting
because I don't want to die.
Untouchable, time is a concept.
There's the fly.
Time and the fly are two...
It is complicated.
I can't see.
We'll do differently.
It'll work immediately.
You stand up...
You look...
You go into the water...
you stop...
Look on your right, left...
Walk towards the camera.
Ready, Nickos?
Ulysses: "I am lost!
In which foreign country
have I landed?"
Homer, The Odyssey.
Subtitling: TITRA-FILM Paris
two of my strongest obsessions.